Nel, Philip (W.) 1969-

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NEL, Philip (W.) 1969-

PERSONAL:

Born March 29, 1969, in MA; son of Pierre E. and Gloria D. (maiden name, Webb; present surname, Hardman) Nel; married Karin E. Westman, May 24, 1997. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Rochester, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1992; Vanderbilt University, M.A., 1993, Ph.D., 1997. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian. Hobbies and other interests: Running, playing the guitar.

ADDRESSES:

Home—116 North Delaware Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502. Office—Department of English, Denison Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506-0701. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, adjunct professor of English and American studies, 1997-98, tutor in Web page construction and design, 1998; College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, adjunct professor of English, communications, and women's studies, 1998-2000; Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, assistant professor of English, 2000—. Guest on media programs.

MEMBER:

Modern Language Association of America, Children's Literature Association, American Studies Association, Don DeLillo Society (Web master, 1999—), Midwest Modern Language Association, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Article award from Children's Literature Association, 2001, for "Dada Knows Best: Growing Up 'Surreal' with Dr. Seuss."

WRITINGS:

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide, Continuum Publishing Group (New York, NY), 2001.

The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks, University Press of Mississippi (Jackson, MS), 2002.

Dr. Seuss: American Icon, Continuum (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to books, including The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter: Perspectives on a Literary Phenomenon, edited by Lana Whited, University of Missouri Press (Columbia, MO), 2002. Contributor of articles and reviews to scholarly journals and newspapers, including Cultural Studies, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Children's Literature, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, Mosaic: Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, Modern Fiction Studies, and Contemporary Literature.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Novels: A Reader's Guide has been published in Japanese.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Biographical research for Harold, Barnaby, and Dave: The Life and Work of Crockett Johnson, completion expected in 2005; biographical research on Ruth Krauss.

SIDELIGHTS:

Philip Nel told CA: "My primary motivation for writing? My general response is that I have many interests and insufficient time to write about them all. My more specific response varies, according to the books I'm working on.

"What motivated me to write Dr. Seuss: American Icon? Seuss is a major American figure on whom there has been comparatively little written. Praised for killing off Dick and Jane, Seuss's beginner books series (starting with The Cat in the Hat) have overshadowed the author's contributions to arts and literature. He had a vast and diverse career, creating screenplays, cartoons, paintings, songs, advertisements—but most people know only his books for children. So I hope my book will serve as an interface between the Seuss people know and the Seuss people don't know.

"The other book I'm working on is a biography of Crockett Johnson (1906-1975) and Ruth Krauss (1901-1993), best known as authors of children's books. (They also happened to be married to one another.) Their range of interests intrigues me, but also their place in literary and cultural history. Johnson is best known as the author of the 'Harold and the Purple Crayon' books, but he also created the influential comic strip 'Barnaby' (1942-52, 1960-62), published original mathematical theorems, painted about a hundred canvases based on both these theorems and those of others, and was an editor at the New Masses in the 1930s. Krauss is best known for her children's books, including eight illustrated by Maurice Sendak (such as A Hole Is to Dig), four by Marc Simont (The Happy Day), and four by Johnson (The Carrot Seed). But she was also a poet, avant-garde playwright, and anthropology student. I'm also interested in the ways that the lives of Johnson and Krauss intersected with many other important figures of the twentieth century. Sendak credits them with launching his picture-book career; the painter Ad Reinhardt illustrated Krauss's first book; Dorothy Parker, Duke Ellington, and Art Spiegelman have all counted themselves as fans of 'Barnaby.'

"Who or what influences my work? Models for my biography of Johnson and Krauss are Leonard S. Marcus's Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon and Judith and Neil Morgan's Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel. My book Dr. Seuss: American Icon is modeled on New Yorker-style literary criticism and analysis, such as that of Malcolm Gladwell, Rebecca Mead, and others. The most direct influences on The Avant-Garde and American Postmodernity: Small Incisive Shocks are Mike Davis's City of Quartz and Andreas Huyssen's Twilight Memories.

"Why do I write on the subjects I choose? Well, Harry Potter gets dismissed as poor quality because it's popular, but of course the books are very literary, full of wordplay, layers of meaning, and allusions to other works. I wanted people to be aware that the books are well written, too. Children's literature is as hard to write as any other kind of literature, but it's often dismissed as 'kid lit.' I hope to prove its detractors wrong. To study children's literature is to be reminded of why reading (and re-reading) is fun, but it is also to see how complex and interesting supposedly 'simple' books really are. And that's fun, too."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

USA Today, July 7, 2000, Deirdre Donahue, "Harry Potter Madness Strikes at Midnight," pp. A1-A2; November 16, 2001, Deirdre Donahue, "'Potter' Inspired Academic Analysis," p. E3.